Holly has been very excited about her new dress and shoes. It was a thrill to wear them to church on Sunday. (Greta has asked many times if we can buy a dress for her from the store... oh the life of hand-me-downs.)

Sometimes I think Holly's too old for pigtails. I usually associate them with baby Greta. But I love putting her hair in piggies. They're sweet, innocent and adorable. And if she can just stay little for a little longer... She's getting so big and grown up!

What do you do on those hotter than summer October days? Pull out the pool of course and try your best to cool down. It seems to be fairly consistent - a heat wave in October. When my girls weren't in school full time, I would take advantage of those hot days and drive to the beach (with zero traffic), laughing at all the poor souls who had a school schedule to keep. Well, now I am one of those poor souls. I'm grateful we have such a fun neighborhood at least!

After we left the county park that we took our first batch of family photos, we drove the streets of some new builds that were right there. Then we came across this prickly, golden field nestled up to the east hills. I knew I would regret it if I didn't make everyone jump out for just a few more photos... so we jumped out and I'm very grateful we did! What good sports my family can be!

And oh the joys of using a remote....

I'm crazy about this little family of mine. They're so precious to me. Last Sunday, I convinced everyone to hop in the car and go take some photos down in Morgan Hill. For the very small amount of time I took photos, I caught a pretty good number and no one cried! Extra bonus! I think my daughters are finally getting to the age where they realize that I'm going to take photos anyways so they might as well cooperate and get it down a little bit faster. Now to choose one to use on our Christmas card. I'm leaning towards the funny faced one.

Last week, Holly had Monday off and we went apple picking in Watsonville with friends. I love eating apples fresh off the tree! When we finally own a home, I'm going to insist on having at least one fruit tree. We picked so many apples - maybe more than we'll be able to eat. I might need to make applesauce. We sure were glad to be able to go this year! We missed out last year because the girls caught hand, foot and mouth disease. Always happy to be healthy.